Share

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk on two subjects: one,
liberty and justice and, number two, our economy.

On the first, as cochair of the House Ukrainian Caucus, I stand today
and join my voice to the citizens of the free world who stand in
solidarity with freedom lovers in Ukraine seeking liberty and justice
for all. It is with the deepest concern that we raise strenuous
objection to the political decision by Ukraine's Pechersk court that
sentenced former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to prison
this October 11. The court's ``guilty'' verdict sentences her to 7
years in prison, bars her from holding office for 3 years, and
effectively stops her from participating in Ukraine's upcoming
elections.

Ukraine's actions should also call into question Ukraine's accession
to the European Union. I join with the members of the Ukrainian
Congress of America in supporting immediate congressional hearings on
what has transpired in Ukraine. I urge our leadership
to allow the passage of a resolution expressing U.S. objection to the
actions of Ukraine's politically driven judicial system that seem to
have more to do with politics than justice.

In furtherance of these objectives, I place on record on behalf of
the Ukrainian Caucus the official statement of the Ukrainian Congress
Committee of America, which represents over 1 million Americans of
Ukrainian descent, equally incensed at what has occurred. From their
statement, the Ukrainian Congress states:

They call upon the Government of the United States to take
appropriate measures to support democracy and human rights in Ukraine.
They urge the United States Government to restrict visas and freeze
assets of the current antidemocratic regime and to hold congressional
hearings on sanctions and future foreign assistance to the Government
of Ukraine.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me, to join our caucus; to
speak out and to act then on behalf of the advance of democracy and
justice in post-Soviet Ukraine.

I also wish to address today the U.S. economy. We've heard a lot
about the trade agreements that are going to come before us today
dealing with so-called ``free trade'' for South Korea, for Colombia and
Panama. I wish to place some information on the record.

I've served in Congress awhile now, and fought against the NAFTA
trade model back in the nineties when they said it would create jobs
that would result in trade surpluses. Advocates promised we would have
all this extraordinary economic growth and new jobs in the United
States. Then after NAFTA was passed, we saw the beginning of these
hemorrhaging trade deficits with Mexico, with Canada and, indeed, with
the world. In 1997 and '98, when the China permanent normal trade
relations, which I might add are anything but normal, kicked in,
America went into an even greater trade deficit. Each billion dollars
of trade deficit represented a loss of thousands upon thousands of lost
jobs.

So, as we look at the period that we've been living through over the
last 20 to 25 years as these so-called free trade agreements locked
down, with every single one, America goes deeper and deeper into trade
deficit, which kills the economic growth in our country. Now, today,
we're being delivered three more: South Korea, Panama, and Colombia.

When we look back at CAFTA, which was passed in the early 2000s, what
happened? Did we get trade balances with those countries? No. We got
more U.S. job loss.

Sure, there were a few industries that made out like bandits. Okay.
that's fine, I'm glad that some industries can export, and generally,
agriculture is able to sell a little bit more, but the overal net is
negative. The net is negative. That translates into lost jobs. We've
lost over 7 million jobs in this country because these agreements are
not fair trade agreements. They really don't result in trade balances
for our country, nor job creation. They yield job losses--coast to
coast.

Let's just take a look at what happened with Mexico alone. Back when
NAFTA was passed, we had a trade surplus with Mexico. The same people
who are arguing for these agreements today said, Don't worry about
NAFTA--jobs are going to be even better. We said, No, no. It's not
going to be better because there's not a real rule of law. There is no
respect for the peasant class in Mexico, and the agricultural
adjustment there is going to be horrendous.

In fact, it is at the basis of the exodus of Mexican farmers and
peasants into our country. That is what is fueling illegal
immigration--the lack of a resolution to what occurred during NAFTA
when the agricultural adjustment was not allowed to occur in a humane
way in Mexico. What a pity to go to the communities and to see how
people are living there, disrupted from their land, and then in our
country to see the jobs outsourced from the United States down there or
from the United States to almost anywhere--China, et cetera--to the
low-wage havens with no rule of law. Every year, the trade deficit with
Mexico has grown greater and greater. Remember when we began with
NAFTA, we had a trade surplus with Mexico. That has disappeared and
gone very negative translating into lost jobs.

Now just take a look at Korea. They say this deal is going to make
trade better. Well, do you believe that? We already have a trade
deficit with Korea, and this agreement isn't going to solve it because
Korea already sells over a half a million cars in this country, but we
only sell a few thousand cars there now. This agreement will not change
these numbers and will result in more lost jobs in our country. This
agreement contains no requirement for reciprocity.

I ask the Members to vote ``no'' on the agreements dealing with
Korea, Colombia, and Panama.

New York, NY.--The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America,
the representative organization of the over one million
Americans of Ukrainian descent, is outraged and strongly
condemns the Pechersk court's sentencing of Yulia Tymoshenko.
The October 11th guilty verdict, which sentences the former
prime minister to 7 years in prison, and bans her from
holding office for three years, displays the selective and
political motivations of the current regime and leaves no
doubt that the court's decision was dictated by the
government to remove one of the top opposition leaders from
taking part in upcoming elections.
From the start, the UCCA, along with the international
community, deemed the various court proceedings to be biased,
not meeting international standards and selective in
persecution of opposition leaders and former government
officials. Thus, today's guilty verdict not only demonstrates
the ongoing anti-democratic and authoritarian tendencies of
the regime, but also severely threatens the country's
European aspirations, specifically the expected ratification
of an association agreement with the European Union.
President Yanukovych's use of criminal law to serve his own
political end, must not be tolerated! The UCCA calls upon the
government of the United States to take appropriate measures
to support democracy and human rights in Ukraine. We urge the
United States government to restrict visas and freeze assets
of the current anti-democratic regime and to hold
congressional hearings on sanctions and future foreign
assistance to the government of Ukraine.

Founded in 2006, the Sunlight Foundation is a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for open government globally and uses technology to make government more accountable to all. Visit SunlightFoundation.com to learn more.

Like this project and want to discover and support others like it?

Join the Sunlight Foundation's open government community to learn more